J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

Mt Hutt, which was (and still is) going to be the first NZ area to fully open has now said opening delayed from 5th to 12th June.

New Zealand will be an interesting case study for northern hemisphere ski areas when is 2020 season starts next month.

The country, one of the most successful in limiting the impact of the virus, eased to a 'level 2' lockdown earlier this week which meant many businesses could re-open and some normality resume.

However there remains a maximum limit of 100 people at any one place under Level 2. The country's prime minister had said however, that this should not be the case for ski areas. It was announced in the past few hours that there'll be no limit on the number of people allowed on New Zealand's ski slopes – only within buildings like restaurants at the ski areas.

This is different to most ski areas that have re-opened in countries like Norway and the USA, which have set strict limits on the numbers of people allowed on the ski hill, often selling out of tickets, which must be purchased online in advance, for days in ahead.

New Zealand ski areas have stressed that it will definitely not be business as usual though. For one thing a number have announced delayed season starts from earl-mid June to later in the month, and in one case a full month back to July. Several have also said they will only be open at weekends this season outside peak periods, or that they'll review their opening days after the New Zealand school holiday period in mid-July.

New Zealand's borders remain closed so ski area operations will only be accessible to people living in the country.

And they already re-opened the Kanin ski area :)

Zermatt is selling vouchers which can be used to buy products and services in the resort from 100 different companies based there.

The vouchers, which can be purchased for anything from 50 Swiss Francs (approximately £42) to a maximum of 5000 Francs (approximately £4,200), receive a 10% bonus to their purchase cost from the resort.

So if you buy a voucher for 100 Francs (£84), it's value when you spend it is 110 Francs (currently approximately £93).

Many shops, restaurants and other businesses in the resort have resumed operations this week, and the ski lifts and summer ski area are expected to recommence operations on June 8th, all being well.

However the vouchers, which can be used for purchases from resort businesses including restaurants, accommodation providers, shops and ski lifts are valid for up to 10 years from purchase date.

Similar incentives have been launched by several other Swiss resorts.

...but now Austria's Kaunertal confirms it is the 4th glacier there to re-open for skiing there, but maybe with the shortest summer-ski season in history? - May 29th to June 7th!

Glacier 3000 in Switzerland (Les Diablerets/Gstaad) has announced it hopes to re-open weekends in June (from the 13th) then daily from June 27th but its unclear as yet whether they will offer summer snowsports that late or summer mountain activities. In recent years the ski season there ends in mid-May but in the past it has continued later in to spring.

Later... now they have confirmed, open but no summer skiing!

Timberline in Oregon has now confirmed re-opening on May 15th.

With most of the world's skiing nations slowly easing restrictions on public life, an increasing number of glacier ski areas appear confident that they'll be open in some form over the next few months.

The three glacier ski areas in Norway, the first European ski nation to really start to ease its lockdown three weeks ago, have already started opening and all three should be operating by the last weekend of this month.

In Austria, which is perhaps moving the fastest of the major Alpine nations the Kitzsteinhorn and Hintertux glaciers will also open on the day the country allows ski lifts to start running again, May 29th. A third Austrian glacier, the Molltal, will open a week later at the start of June and it is believed that the Kaunertal also plan to re-open around then if they can reach agreement to do so.

National race team training is a driving factor behind some glaciers opening and it has been reported that the Austrian team have already got back on snow for training on the (closed to the public) Kaunertal and Solden glaciers. The French ski team is saying to start training on the glacier at Val d'Isere on June 6th and the Italians have booked the Stelvio glacier and a large hotel next to it for exclusive use through June. However, it is understood neither country's teams have as yet got final permission from their governments to use the facilities.

They are pointing out however that the usual southern hemisphere training this summer look highly unlikely to be able to happen with ongoing travel bans.

Along with Val d'Isere but Les 2 Alpes and Tignes say they are working with local authorities in France with the hope of opening for their summer ski seasons later in June, pretty much as scheduled.

Zermatt in Switzerland has targeted June 8th as the day when their year-round skiing operation may resume, if all goes well over the intervening period.

Over in North America Whistler Blackcomb has still not ruled out re-opening for it's June-July glacier skiing on the Horstman Glacier.

There are no glacier ski areas in the US but the Beartooth Basin summer ski area in Montana hopes to open on May 30th and the Timberline Lodge ski area hopes to re-open in the next few weeks after Oregon's governor said she intended for them to be able to following the latest easing of restrictions in that state.

It goes without saying that summer 2020 openings will see only locally-based skiers and borders on the slopes, in lower numbers, socially distanced and with all the other virus-spread-reduction initiatives in place.